Planning Considerations for Projected Intermodal Rail Yards in the Chicago Region Studied by Key-informant Interviews

Using the data obtained from the structured interviews of 33 professionals with a high level of technical knowledge specific to the subject of intermodal rail yards and their associated operations, this study addresses 10 issues that cover not only the design and layout issues within a terminal, but also broader topics such as administration/ownership, location, and other topics that may be overlooked by the designers. This is still a preliminary report, so we will only present discussion regarding some of the results that we consider to be of greatest import concerning the development of intermodal rail yards over the next decade. Based upon the level of collective expertise and insights expressed by the respondents, we feel these 10 issues, plus two which came to our attention from this study, warrant consideration in the planning for future intermodal rail yards in the Chicago region. Our key findings include that while a general level of interest for technology is high, it is unlikely that deployment of them will be fast enough to provide sufficient capacity increases to counter the expected demand growth. Also, future Intermodal yards will likely to be at least 300 acres and 7000 feet in length. Given their size, it is likely that those facilities will be located in semirural or rural areas. While there is a high level of awareness for environmental issues among freight professionals, the perception tends to focus on the direct impacts associated with the Intermodal yards, while broader implications are often unnoticed. INTRODUCTION Recent publications have proposed that intermodal freight traffic in the Chicago region will grow by as much as 250% by the year 2020 (McCarron and LaBelle, 2002). Even with two new large rail yards functioning at full capacity, such volumes would overwhelm Chicago’s capacity to handle this freight, so construction of additional intermodal facilities must realistically be considered. In that the two new yards, Logistics Park and Global III, represent radical changes from previous intermodal yards, it seemed appropriate to ask what various stakeholders perceived as optimal planning factors when considering such infrastructure developments. This study used structured interviews with the “key-informant” stakeholder representatives in rail and trucking industries, consulting firms, and public agencies in an attempt to identify the factors that determine the desirability of potential sites and also to assess the kinds of impact such developments might have on the region. Logistics Park and Global III are three to four times larger than all previous intermodal rail yards in the Chicago market and were specifically developed in association with neighboring industrial developments in suburban-rural settings far outside the traditional definition of the city’s metropolitan centers (BNFS, 7/20/04, Global III, 7/20/04). Even though these intermodal facilities are private corporate businesses, they cannot operate without the use of public roads and infrastructures. Given their large size they have significant impacts upon the region’s environmental, economic and local character concerns. Understanding what market pressures and other considerations might be involved in the railroad’s planning of future yards could help focus regional planning efforts to optimize their impact and contributions to the region. Other groups with significant insight to intermodal rail yard planning include the short line railroad companies, who facilitate local railcar movements, truckers, who take the intermodal boxes to and from and between these yards, regulatory governmental agencies and select engineering or developer consulting-planning offices. Although each of these will make important contributions to various aspects of future intermodal rail yard functions, their input has usually been either after-the-fact or subverted to the mainline railroad dictates. However, identifying and documenting their concerns and ideas should be beneficial to all stakeholders, since they perform the functions that are integral parts of the operations of intermodal terminals. While the design of terminal facilities is an established genre, within our knowledge, this study is unique in its scope and objectives. As discussed in the following sections, this study addressed not only the design and layout issues within a terminal, but also broader issues such as administration/ownership, location, and other topics that may be overlooked by designers. In that this is still a preliminary report, we will not present an exhaustive analysis of our data here, but will rather discuss some of the results which we consider to be of greatest import regarding the development of intermodal rail yards over the next decade. While this study is specific to the Chicago region and its unique place in the international flow of freight, it is expected that some of the issues raised will have value for other markets to also consider for their future planning. METHODOLOGY We designed our survey instrument to address ten key aspects associated with intermodal rail yards, as developed with counsel from industry experts. This paper will be structured following those ten points. However, two additional issues became apparent as of potential import through the study. Thus a total of twelve planning issues will be considered in our